When Marcus entered the bar he was greeted by Rayleigh and Shakky talking at the bar. Both of them looked over at the same time before Shakky said, "Welcome back… Rayleigh was just telling me about your little adventure."
Marcus let out a tired sigh as he said, "I've been on the island for maybe six hours and basically already explored the whole thing looking for him."
"Well, you found me, kid. So what do you want?"
"I want you to train me in swordsmanship and haki." Marcus said as he took a seat at the bar.
Rayleigh shook his head as he said, "That just sounds like work and I'm retired."
"Don't you coat ships for a living?"
Shakky giggled as she said, "He does that so he has money to waste at the casino. Well, when he doesn't feel like stealing from rich people."
Rayleigh leaned back slightly on his stool as he asked, "And why would I want to waste my retirement training you?"
"Did Shanks tell you about Ace?"
Rayleigh's eyes lit up as he said, "Yeah he did… Along with him entrusting the captain's hat to your brother and your skill in swordsmanship."
"He didn't mention Sabo?"
Rayleigh rubbed his chin for a few moments before he said, "He did mention there were four of you… But didn't talk much about him."
"Well the four of us are sworn brothers and since that's the case, shouldn't you help train me?"
Rayleigh took a sip from his drink before he let out a chuckle and said, "If it was Ace asking, I wouldn't mind… Or even your brother since he was entrusted with the captain's hat."
Rayleigh set his drink down as he examined Marcus for a few moments before he asked, "But you're not either of them, so why should I help you?"
Marcus nodded along before he said, "You make a fair point… That's unfortunate though, since I collected over twenty barrels of high quality alcohol on my way here."
Marcus shook his head as Shakky smiled at Rayleigh whose eyes widened when Marcus added, "I guess I'll just have to get my ship coated and go find Mihawk or Shanks since they both wanted to train me in the first place."
"Mihawk offered to train you?" Rayleigh asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Mihawk came to find me a while back because of Shanks. Before he left he said to come find him if I wanted to spar again." Marcus said with a shrug.
Rayleigh sat there for a few moments before he slowly stood as he said, "Follow me."
Marcus followed Rayleigh through the back of the bar and into a storage area before they entered what looked like a living room. Rayleigh grabbed a sword that was hanging on the wall and walked out a different door that led outside. Rayleigh led Marcus away from the bar a good distance before he turned around and said, "Alright, let's see what you got kid. Come at me with everything you have."
"You really want everything?"
Rayleigh pulled his sword free from its scabbard as he said, "Everything you got, don't hold back at all."
Marcus gripped his sword hilt as he took an attacking stance and crouched low. His other hand rested on his scabbard as all his muscles tightened up and he coated his sword in haki before he thought, 'Thunderclap and flash eightfold!'
The ground exploded as Marcus shot towards Rayleigh like a bolt of lightning. As Marcus's sword was pulled from his scabbard for the attack, Marcus also released his conqueror's haki towards Rayleigh. Rayleigh's eyes widened as his sword whipped forward to parry the blow and he also flared his conqueror's haki slightly to match Marcus's with force. After the initial blow, Marcus almost teleported around Rayleigh as he put all of his strength, speed and haki behind each blow.
Rayleigh parried every attack with the practiced ease of a master and only used the exact haki pressure Marcus used to counter him perfectly. After Marcus's opener was finished and the ground around them was cratered by it. Marcus landed twenty feet away from Rayleigh before he causally swung his downwards to make an air blade. As the air blade rushed towards Rayleigh, Marcus followed behind it like a ghost.
The moment Rayleigh parried the air blade, Marcus's sword darted out and tore through an after image of Rayleigh. Marcus's missed attack continued upwards and caught Rayleigh's sword as it came from behind him. Marcus kept the swords locked in place as he spun around and then tried to push the other sword away as he kicked forward. Rayleigh disengaged as he stepped back from the kick before he slashed downwards.
Marcus parried the blow and attempted to press in but Rayleigh countered with a kick of his own which Marcus barely dodged. The fight turned into a back and forth as Rayleigh returned everything Marcus did with just a tiny bit more strength and skill. Almost half an hour passed before Marcus's haki started faltering so he retreated backwards as he said, "I only have enough strength for one more attack."
Rayleigh didn't chase but cautiously watched Marcus and his eyes started to widen as Marcus took a stance he was familiar with. A second later Marcus focused everything he had into his sword as it whipped forward as he thought, 'Divine Departure!'
A black air blade with tiny hints of lightning flew towards Rayleigh who became completely serious as his blade turned pitch black. A moment later his sword clashed with the attack and after a few moments he parried it skywards. The attack flew up into the air as Rayleigh turned to look at Marcus who was down on one knee catching his breath. A hint of a smile played across Rayleigh's face as he sheathed his sword before he walked towards Marcus and said, "Not bad, you're even better than I expected."
Marcus slowly stood as he asked, "Thanks, you're not bad yourself old man… So feel like training me now?"
"I'll think about it."
Marcus frowned slightly before he said, "Okay, but I'll only wait here for about a week at most. If you take longer than that, I'll just get my ship coated and go find Shanks or Mihawk."
"Kids these days have no patience at all."
Marcus shrugged as he said, "I can't help it, I have a dream to visit everywhere in the world one day and I can't do that without strength."
Rayleigh took another look at Marcus as he said, "Interesting… I figured you wanted to be the world's strongest swordsman or something."
"No, that's too much work. Sailing around the world and leisurely exploring with friends sounds like a lot more fun to me."
Rayleigh chuckled as he said, "Give me a week and I'll give you an answer. Till then you can hang out at the bar if you want, but I'll be busy spending some time with Shakky."
Marcus nodded as he followed Rayleigh back to the bar and hung out with both of them for a couple hours before he decided to go eat an early dinner and call it a night. Marcus ate on his ship alone then made a few calls to check in with everyone before he went to sleep and didn't wake up till the morning. After doing a warmup routine and taking a shower, Marcus headed out to the hotel grove to eat food and explore the place a bit.
While he didn't want to waste a week not training as he waited for Rayleigh, Marcus took it in stride. While he originally hoped everything would go smoothly, he also knew Rayleigh was right. Marcus was basically a stranger asking for help and he wouldn't be surprised if he was turned down.
Marcus made it to the grove pretty quickly after he rented a Bon Chari for the week from a vendor. Once he arrived he asked around and found a good place to eat recommended by the locals. After breakfast Marcus rode his Bon Chari slowly around the hotel area of grove seventy for hours. He shopped around a little bit but mostly just explored the place looking for decent food he could eat while on the island.
Afterwards he headed towards grove forty and the tourists zone he completely skipped over yesterday. He wanted to see what it had to offer and also check out what kinda food they had, but quickly decided to not waste his money. The tourist area was at least thirty percent more expensive than even the hotel district. Marcus still checked the place out but just because he had money didn't mean he would waste it.
When lunch rolled around, Marcus ate at a place in the lawless zone before he headed towards the amusement park in grove thirty. It was also more expensive than other parts of the island, but it also had a bunch of rides and games. Marcus just explored on his Bon Chari for the day and didn't really bother to ride anything since it didn't interest him much.
When the sun started to set, Marcus headed back to the hotel area and ate a big dinner at a fancy restaurant before he called it a night. The next day after a small workout and breakfast, Marcus headed out to explore the lawless zone and find a decent sparring partner or two. Worst case he would just collect some bounties if he found pirates he didn't like.
Marcus slowly explored the place on his Bon Chari as he headed towards grove twenty and the main hub for the area. The casino he went to the other day was in that area but he only stopped there for a few minutes before he left. So Marcus really didn't see much the first time. Marcus found that for the place being called lawless, it was actually pretty nice. Sure there was a bit of fighting here and there, but the streets were clean and normally people were walking around next to pirates without issue.
The other thing Marcus found was that most places were decently priced compared to the rest of the island. He noticed it yesterday when he ate lunch in the lawless zone, but he thought that was just that particular restaurant at the time. But after exploring the place for hours it turned out that was just how the place was. Maybe the people there decided not to price gouge pirates who might kill them instead of paying a large bill.
Around lunch time when Marcus stopped at a restaurant to eat, he overheard some people talking about something and he forced himself not to react to it. Apparently Doffy arrived on the island in the morning with some of his crew members and they were looking for whoever attacked the auction house. Marcus listened in to the conversation as he calmly ate and heard a few more pieces of information but nothing really important.
Once Marcus finished eating he decided to stop exploring and slowly headed back to his ship. There was no need to rush since apparently the only description of him was of his mask and cloak. At least that's what the people in the bar said, hopefully that was true because that would make things easier. About an hour later Marcus arrived back at his ship and after checking it over, Marcus pulled out his acoustic guitar to practice with.
A couple hours passed by and Marcus was on the deck with his hammock strung up as he relaxed in it while he started playing Canción Del Mariachi. As his fingers glided across the strings with his eyes closed Marcus sang in Spanish, "Soy un hombre muy honrado, que me gusta lo mejor. Las mujeres no me faltan, ni al dinero, ni el amor."
"Jineteando en mi caballo, por la sierra yo me voy. Las estrellas y la luna, ellas me dicen donde voy."
"Ay, ay, ay, ay, Ay, ay mi amor. Ay mi morena, de mi corazón!"
"Me gusta tocar la guitarra, Me gusta cantar canciones. El mariachi me acompaña, cuando canto mi canción."
"Me gusta beber alcohol. El aguardiente es el mejor. Y también el tequila blanco,
con sal que realza su sabor."
"Ay, ay, ay, ay. Ay, ay mi amor. Ay mi morena, de mi corazón!"
Marcus's fingers blazed across the guitar for half a minute before he started to tap on his guitar as he strummed a slow single note as he sang, "Me gusta tocar la guitarra, Me gusta cantar canciones. El mariachi me acompaña, cuando canto mi canción."
Marcus stopped tapping his guitar and started playing again as he sang, "Me gusta beber alcohol. El aguardiente es el mejor. Y también el tequila blanco,
con sal que realza su sabor."
"Ay, ay, ay, ay. Ay, ay mi amor. Ay mi morena, de mi corazón!"
"Ay, ay, ay, ay. Ay, ay mi amor. Ay mi morena, de mi coooooorazónnnnnnnnn!"
After Marcus finished the song someone clapped as a girl's voice said, "I couldn't understand the words, but that was beautiful."